Yesterday April 11, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, adviser to the National Payments Corporation of India [NPCI] launched the NPCI’s most ambitious project, a new Electronic Fund Transfer protocol, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) wherein 29 banks would be enabled with this interface under the 1st phase; and then gradually other banks would be brought into the system. UPI is expected to bring about a significant shift in the way mobile banking transactions are conducted. It is a single interface across all NPCI systems, allowing customer to instantaneously transfer funds across different banks with the use of single identification and password.

Ringing Bells, a little-know Noida-based Company ‘with immense support’ from the India government is about to launch what is most certainly the world’s cheapest smartphone. The “Freedom 251” costs, yes, just Rs. 251, and will be available to buy on the company’s website http://www.freedom251.com from 6am on February 18 and close at 8pm on February 21.